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Bloodshed.Carnage.Hatred.Hostility.Can somebody in this audience assert that they have

experienced all or at least one of these abhorrent acts in their lives? Well, I hope not.
These four words are key elements to nurturing a horrific human creation called War.
Due to the fact that we, as citizens of a western society, have the choice of ignoring this
ghastly phenomenon, I'm going to give you a brief annotation of this spiteful and inhuman
According to the Oxford Dictionary War (1) is A State of armed conflict between
different countries or different groups within a country. From where I stand, this
definition seems plausible but I do think it misses some really vital parts of Warfare. In fact,
it misses the paramount of this abomination, that is the human side of things. It cant be
forgotten that behind this appalling act stand Men, blinded by all things that should be
secondary to Mankind.
Now that I've given you all a preface on the matter of war Ill now direct my speech
towards us, Westerners.

4,8 (2) million took risks to assure their safety from various war scenarios. 4,8 million left
their homes with nothing but hope, fear and maybe a phone. 4,8 million women, men and
children from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt faced death head on.Without any
certainties, they ventured to foreign countries seeking some kind feasible life.

While all of this was happening, in Europe, children were choosing a toy to play with,
Teenagers were picking which song to play next, Women were picking the highest of heels
and Men were meditating between an espresso and an Americano.
According to the UN.Department of Economics and Social Affairs (3), in 2015, 739 million
souls were breathing the crisp air of the so-called Vieux continent (old
continent).Antithetically, in consonance with the same institution (4), 18,906 million citizens
in Syria were vivaciously inhaling the debris of an ongoing War without any possibility of
taking action for their own sakes.
This scenario is almost implausible for the denizens of Europe, America, Australia, New
Zealand and Canada.Nonetheless, while most of the people in these countries have the
given right to express their opinions and beliefs, now, most of them choose not to do so.
Grievously Westerners take democracy and the right to have an opinion for granted.Lets
take Portugal as an example.
As reported by Pordata (5), out of 9,682,553 Portuguese legal voters, only 5,408,805
citizens took the ballot in the legislative elections in 2015. Almost half the legal voting
population deliberately chose not to vote. Granted that 257,2 million citizens in countries
like in Syria, Iran, Iraq are politically and socially oppressed every single day, due to the
running dictatorship that they find themselves in, our undermining of the act of voting is not
only appalling but also blasphemous towards all the sacrifice that was made throughout
history so that we would have the right to be heard.

Now, I would like to clarify that I'm in no shape or form ONLY condemning the Western
people but also its Leaders that are being ruled by various economic interests.
Let's take the Civil War in Syria for an example.This War has been ongoing for 5 years, 10
months and 4 weeks and has already killed thousands and made over 4.8 million
refugees. You might ask yourself what caused this war? This bloodbath involving
thousands started with one word: Oil. Bluntly, Syria has become a proxy war between the

US and Russia. At risk is the role America wants to play in the world -- and the role that
Russia can play in the world.

Now tracing it back to us, Westerners. We are not allowed to state that we don't feel the
consequences of these wars that some of our leaders promote. In our world, the
repercussions caused by these armed conflicts are translated directly into terrorism. We
have felt many manifestations of this atrocious word, like the bombings in Bruxelles and
As Pope Francis said: World War III has begun, at least in a piecemeal fashion (6).
So all in all the so-called peace that we live in today represents a whole different type of
war comparing to the 20th century where war was a public affair rather than a silent,
psychological and globalized movement .

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(1)The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a descriptive dictionary of the English language, published by
the Oxford University Press.

(3) ; (4) The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is part of the
United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for the follow-up to major United Nations Summits and
Conferences, as well as services to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the Second and
Third Committees of the United Nations general Assembly

(5) Pordata is the Contemporary Portugal Database equipped with official and certified statistics about
Portugal and Europe. Information is provided by Fundao Francisco Manuel dos Santos.


(1) https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/war
(2) http://www.iamsyria.org/syrian-refugee-crisis.html
(3) http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/europe-population/ http://
(4) www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/
(5) http://www.pordata.pt/Portugal/
(6) http://www.dn.pt/mundo/interior/estamos-na-terceira-guerra-mundial-aos-